To the raising of this fund there lies but one objection ;-but one which, if not removed, would be insuperable; and it is this, that Roman Catholic places of worship are now built, kept in repair, and their current expenses defrayed, out of the collections made at the time and in the manner above mentioned; and that these collections also, in some places, particularly in towns and cities, form a principal part of the income of the Clergy.

The means of removing this difficulty are simple and obvious: let the laws which provide for keeping the churches of the Establishment in repair, and supplying them with necessaries, be amended, and when improved, be extended to the Catholic places of worship; and thus, besides doing an act of justice and public utility, and one well calculated to conciliate parties now conflicting, one of the greatest obstacles to the establishment of a legal provision for the poor will be removed. Then as to such of those collections as are appropriated to the use of the Clergy, these might be easily commuted for an equivalent to be paid by

the parish in some other shape, if the time should not have arrived when a regular provision could be made for, and accepted of, by the Catholic priesthood.

Whenever the fund arising from the voluntary contributions of which I am treating, would be exhausted, as might happen occasionally in various places, and even generally, in times when a dearth of provisions or want of employment would produce more than ordinary distress; then the committee or trustees of the poor should be enabled to provide for them, by allocating the labour of these latter at the ordinary rate of wages, or at a higher rate if rendered necessary by the price of provisions-in such manner as would be most conformable to the public good, to the wants of the labourers, and to the ability of their employers. The committee should also be empowered to levy by assessment from off the parish, according to a fixed scale, whatever sums of money would be necessary to provide for the usual claimants on the parochial fund.

The money thus raised by assessment, as well

as that paid by the persons who employed labourers at the requisition of the parochial committee, should, in my opinion, be charged in equal shares to the account of the proprietors of lands and houses, to the occupants of the same, and to the person, whether lay or ecclesiastic, who received the great tithes of the parish, or any equivalent for them, unless such tithes were utterly abolished. In this latter event, so devoutly to be wished for, the proprietor and tenant should share between them the burthen of supporting the poor, if their ancient patrimony, or an equivalent for it, were not secured to them from some other source. In order to simplify the mode of thus partitioning the amount of the assessment, the receipt of the parish treasurer, as well as his certificate of the sum to be paid by persons employing labourers at the requisition of the parochial committee, should pass as cash for one-third of their amount, both to the receiver of rent, and to the receiver of tithe, or of the composition in lieu of tithe.

Such an enactment would also admit conveniently of a clause whereby proprietors absent

from the country would be made to contribute more than the resident landlords, by subjecting the former to the entire of the burthen which would be equally divided between the latter and their tenantry. Thus a reasonable mulct would be imposed on absentees for not fulfilling the duties of good citizens, and some compensation would be made to their tenants for the want of that protecting influence, that salutary example and encouragement of good order and industry, which a proprietor owes to his countrymen and dependants.

The Clergy would, no doubt, complain at the proportion of expense which I would be anxious to see imposed on them until tithes would be abolished; but I hope confidently that whosoever considers the nature of their calling, the duties of their ministry, the original and sacred character of the patrimony intrusted to them, will not sympathize in their feelings. I do not wish to recur to the extent of their possessions, or to the total want of proportion between what they receive from the public, and the services they render to the community; neither do I wish whilst treating on

this subject, to represent the absurd anomaly of a man paying a tenth of his substance to a minister of religion whose creed and ministry he conscientiously rejects.

In towns and cities where tithes, or an equivalent for them, are not paid by the majority of those on whom the burthen of supporting the poor would principally fall, I am of opinion that great discretion might be vested in the parochial trustees (if no more certain method could be devised) to levy, in such manner as would appear to them most equitable, that part of the parochial assessment which in other places should be borne by the receiver of tithes.

Having thus unfolded, in a general way, my views of a legal provision for the poor, I come now to examine whether it would operate as a heavy tax on the proprietors and occupants of lands and houses. I think it would not; and I am also of opinion, that the additional burthen, if any, which might be imposed on them, would be productive of infinite advantage to the country; that every